Lame Duck – Politics Plus

Open Thread February 14 2026

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Holiday, Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 142026

Happy Valentine’s Day, All.

Yesterday, I woke up early (for me) and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was hoping that would at least help me to get up this morning – it may have, or it may not.

From The Talking Points Memo – The Apricot Antichrist takes on the entire judicial branch. This could be funny if it weren’t so – venal.

This from The Intercept just gobsmacks me. And also makes me glad I froze my information at all three credit bureaus. I hope y’all have done the same.

Yes, this from Law & Crime is a political story. The young woman died on January 10, 2025, just 10 days before that inauguration. The justice system in Texas has done nothing, so the police in Cheshire, England are now getting involved. The story is also in The Root – each has details the other doesn’t.

Open Thread November 8 2025

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 082025

Yesterday, I observed that Nancy Pelosi will retire after the 2026 midterms. But she will always be the speaker in my house, in the character doll I clothed (and styled the hair) of her in the infamous Max Mara coat, with sunglasses. Bo, I don’t yet have a picture. I’ll work on getting one.

From Wonkette, a snapshot from the history of labor in America. Granted that having to pee in a bottle because you don’t get bathroom breaks, as happens at Amazon, is not as bad as getting shot and killed or burned alive, I still don’t think we have come very far.

I found a way to link to one specific part of the TPM Morning Memo, so here it is – early theories of the election. As stated there, it’s early to be sure just what happened, but still interesting. You are welcome to scroll up and down to the rest of the memo if you like.

I don’t suppose that anyone here is even slightly considering a paid subscription to The F***ing News – but just in case, you cannot pay for it with an American Express card. They will not send your payment(s) because the name offends them. But I digress. There’s a bunch in here, but what most interested me was the middle about the “lame duck” era. I found it encouraging. It starts with a header with the Politico logo, and goes down to the two maps of Virginia – maps which clearly show that land does not vote. People vote.

Two videos today because they go together. I was born in San Francisco, but I don’t think I have ever been truly homesick until seeing the first one.

Open Thread November 20 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:06 am Politics

Nov 202024

Yesterday, I received three of my four prescriptions, which included two I was flat out of. I took those two immediatele, and also added them to the three bottles remaining for theis two-week period. The fourth comes from a different pharmacy, and I was on the phone with them the day before, and that one is on its way also. I hate having tp phone for these things, but having done so, I’m glad I did. The last full prescription I had from them, after over 20 years, they sent me only half the pills, and duplicated that error with the stopgap prescription, and I had to call then, twice, to get more. I had hoped a new prescription would fix that, but no. But at lest I caught it this time before they were sent. And I am hoping the call straightened it out. Well, if not, I have 45 days to get it straight. Two of my scrips affect mood, one directly and one indirectly, so hopefully I’ll be in a better mood soon than I have been for a while. Also, I received a grocery order, cleaned up and put away some usb drives (flashm thumb, jump, whatever they are called now) and started putting downloaded classical tunes onto another (2G) for use in the car.

I can’t always find a good ending to a story in the Atlanta Black Star – and when I do, it’s often too little, too late, and at best very long in coming. So this should be no surprise really. At least it’s something.

Heather Cox Richardson posted a letter with a number of “short takes,” and that’s a good thing. It can be a mnemonic for all the stuff that’s going on, must of whuch is so crazy there’s not pont i analyzing it in depth, because it has no depth. I grant it’s tough to read.

Open Thread November 19, 2022

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 192022

Yesterday – yup. it snowed. a few inches on the non-paved ground, and a few stray flakes and clumps on the concrete. So it won’t interfere with driving by Sunday. In bad news, Adam Frisch conceded to Lauren Boebert. Sigh. Sorry, guys. At least we have the Senate. And at least Colorado is sending a delegation of 5 Dems and 3 Qpubs, rather than a delegation of 4 and 3. Also, I don’t nknow how long I will be able to keep up three short takes, but I have a bit of a backlog. And – Merrick Garland has appointed a Special Counsel in the Trump cases. His name is Jack Smith. I’m betting he did this, not so much to avoid the appearance of partisanship, but to put this investigation out of bounds for the GOP’s plans to “investigate” (read harass) everyone in the Biden administration. Of course he’s not saying that. Why give them ideas?

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – November 16, 2022
Quote – The election of a House speaker can be a way for different factions to test out their power at the beginning of a session. If McCarthy can’t muster the necessary votes, the speakership could open to a far more moderate Republican who could get Democratic votes. That shift might, in fact, look good to a number of Republicans who see how thoroughly voters in some areas rejected extremism in the midterms. Or the need for more moderate votes could swing McCarthy away from the MAGA crowd. It’s not clear yet, but it might tell us a lot. In 1856, at a time when party alignments were shifting markedly, it took the House two months and 133 ballots finally to choose Representative Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts, and by then, everyone knew exactly who backed whom.
Click through for full letter. She covers several topics, but what caught my attention was her historian’s take on the Speakership.

Mother Jones – Why Lauren Boebert Might Lose
Quote – Most analysts assumed that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) would cruise to victory in her solidly red district, which became even more Republican after redistricting. In 2020, Boebert defeated her Democratic opponent by six percentage points. This year, FiveThirtyEight gave Boebert a 97 in 100 shot of winning. In June, when Boebert won her primary, I declared, “It looks like two more years of Lauren Boebert in Congress.”
Click through for article. Of course, she didn’t lose – but dayum, it was close. Maybe next time. Right now I’m hoping she does run again , because that would be our only chance for a Democratic pickup, but that may change.

Wonkette – Hey, Lame-Duck Congress! How About Ending The Stupid Debt Limit While You Still Can?
Quote – Under the weird rules governing the reconciliation process, budget related bills can be passed with a simple majority in the Senate, without Senate Republicans being able to filibuster. Taking the debt ceiling off the table would thwart already-announced GOP plans to use the debt ceiling as a lever to force big budget cuts, possibly including dangerous changes to Medicare and Social Security, like raising the retirement age, cutting benefits, or partially privatizing one or both programs. They’ve already said that’s what they’ll do if they take over the House. Out loud, with their mouths and everything.
Click through for more. I’m afraid they are saying they will not even consider it. That is really a pity, because it is, frankly, stupid.

Food For Thought

PHP is a programming language used to build websites. We have it at all through our hosting partner, BlueHost. In order to update it, we have to go through Bluehost. During his life, TomCat was the only one who had access to our account there. I (JD) am now the only one. I have been to BlueHost and investigated updating our PHP to 8.3 or even to 8.1. I found instructions to do so - in fact, I found two conflicting sets of instructions. I went through one set of the steps and got the message that Our site could not handle 8.3, but that it had successfully updated to 8.1. I then went back here to see what it looked like. But I couldn't get in - either as an administrator or as a reader. It was just gone. I had to reach BlueHost by phone. It was determined that Politics Plus is in fact not compatible with any version of PHP newer than the one we have. BlueHost therefore uninstalled it for me, and the site came back to normal. Of course, like everyone else, I care about security. But I also am aware that TomCat elected to use different providers for several of the services that BlueHost provides, for instance backups. We are backed up daily - but not by BlueHost. However, out PHP is through Bluehost. I feel that if they are not worried about the older version, I am not going to worry about it. I believe that our security here is all or mostly through WordFence, whom I trust.